FEDERATION – WHY NOT CAMEROON

Dear Cameroonians, it is important for us to be enlightened, so that we are not misled and/or brainwashed. A federation is a political entity, characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions under a central (federal) government. In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, is typically constitutionally entrenched. According to the CIA Fact book, Federation is a form of government in which sovereign power is formally divided between the central authority and a number of constituent regions so that each region retains some degree of control over its internal affairs.

Here, we are not out to explore the merits and demerits of a federation. We only seek to cancel the idea or impression that it is an evil. For weeks now, some members of government in Cameroon have been singing in favour of the unitary state. The Head of State, in his 2016 end of year address to the nation raised the dynamics of the song – by which time it might have even become boring – when he said: “Cameroon is one and indivisible! It shall so remain”. This has since been the refrain over the country’s national broadcaster, CRTV. But what is not said is why Cameroon cannot be a federation, apart from insisting that it is anti-constitutional.

Truth is, the post-independent Cameroon was not always a unitary state. She began with a federation. And in fact, for many, as for the founding fathers of the federation, that was the best form of government in the circumstances. Following the defeat of Germany in the First World War, the territory was divided between France and Britain as a protectorate of the League of Nations, and later became UN trust territories the same. It was obvious that in the course of almost half a century, the two portions of the country had been schooled in different cultures. The federation was going to help the two parts to continue enjoying a lifestyle that had become part of them, while staying together as a nation.

The federation came to an end in May of 1972, when President Ahmadou Ahidjo proposed a Constitution that would make the Federal Republic a unitary state, the United Republic of Cameroon. The 1984 constitutional amendment which changed the country’s name from the United Republic of Cameroon to the Republic of Cameroon (the name which French Cameroun had before the federation) is still a pain in the hearts of many Cameroonians of Anglophone extraction. And the insistence on the current system of government, and more so the manner in which the said insistence has recently come across, has been to many, a deliberate bruise on a wound that is healing reluctantly.

Now the Head of State and his ministers claim a federation is not possible, without saying why. Many from the English-cultured part of Cameroon have cried foul at the fact that their cultural heritage is being erased by the government. This erosion – with every look of being systematic – has been typified especially in the education sector, the legal system, the area of development, harnessing and use of human and material resources among others. Instead of dealing with the real problem, the government is electing to isolate some of the affected areas and deal with them, while it has become obvious that they are only symptoms of what has been called the Anglophone Problem.

The two sub-systems of Cameroon could never really both stay intact, without being separate in some way. And the two could come together even for the purpose of preserving them as a goal, while being a nation. After all, one of the definitions of federation provided by Microsoft Encarta is an alliance, a group of various bodies or parties that have united to achieve a common goal.

When government insists that Cameroon must be a unitary state, having as an only reason that a federation is against the constitution, while that is not the constitution at the time of coming together, it seems to betray some ulterior motives. If the fear is to go against the constitution, an easy solution is to get a constitution that provides for a federation, which is what was there initially. This would eagerly be done, if there is any real interest in preserving the two sub-systems in Cameroon. This is, in part, what the Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda called for in their December 22, 2016 Memorandum to the Head of State.

The government of Cameroon is giving the impression that a federation is impossible. Many ministers have taken to the Mass Media to defend the view. They seem to be operating under the guidelines of Adolf Hitler’s ‘Big Lie’ propaganda technique, an expression he coined when he dictated his 1925 book ‘Mein Kampf’, about the use of a lie so colossal that no one would believe that someone could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Many might come to believe, but not those who are well informed.

One may wonder whether all the countries with federal systems of government are unaware of how dangerous it could be – although the government of Cameroon is yet to actually explain how. But if these same countries have been in this system of government, it must be that they have capitalised on the advantages, and sought ways of dealing with the setbacks. It will be important to know the current federations in the world, and when they were established: Argentina (1853): Australia (1901); Austria (1920); Belgium (1970); Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995); Brazil (1889); Canada (1867); Comoros (1995); Ethiopia (1995); Germany (1949); India (1950); Iraq (2005); Malaysia (1963); Mexico (1821); Federated States of Miconesia (1979); Nepal (2015); Nigeria (1963); Pakistan (1956); Russia (1918, 1991); Saint Kitts and Nevis (1983); Somalia (2012); South Sudan (2011); Sudan (1956); Switzerland (1848); United Arab Emirates (1971); United States of America (1776); Venezuela (1863).

Of course there are different ways of being in the federation. But whatever the particular nature of the federation, that some of these federations have existed since the middle of the 18th century proves that the system of government can be managed to endure. The fact that some are as young as the 21st century also serves as evidence that more peoples find it good and workable. These various countries are sovereign entities; undivided! So we still ask the question why federation has been made to look like division; why it is no longer possible for Cameroon when it works pretty well elsewhere!

Federation is a system of government. It is not division of a country. It is simply another way of being together. Let not one be fooled by a repeated lie.

NB: This brilliant paper was sent to us without the name of the author(s)

In his novel No Longer At Ease (1960), the great Chinua Achebe painted the main character Obi Okonkwo as an upright and principled man who was never swayed by prevailing norms and practices. To be sure, when he was sent to London by his village to go and study Law so he would come back and handle their land cases, he chose instead to follow his heart and read English.

At a reception by his village to welcome him from England he attended the event wearing a simple shirt when he knew the expectations were for him to wear the best suit in town. He also addressed them in the ‘is’ and ‘was’ type of English when he knew the expectation was for him to bamboozle them with the ‘English that fills the mouth’-the kind of Bate Bessong English.

Though he was sponsored by his village to study in England, he refused to use his position in the civil service to influence the recruitment of members of his town or ethnic group into the service, regarding such as nepotism. Above all he married the woman he loved – an ‘osu’ (a slave) even though he knew such was an abomination by his people. A man with such a profile as Obi Okonkwo was the least you would expect to take bribe. Yet he did, overwhelmed by systemic pressures to do so and was caught the first time he tried it!

Hon. Joseph Wirba carries with him Obi Okonkwo’s shadow. However, unlike Obi Okonkwo, he rejected bribes from the CPDM crime syndicate of President Biya and made known the sufferings of Southern Cameroonians in La Republique du Cameroun to the world. This is the leader that Anglophone Cameroon has been longing for! This is a true descendant of the Warriors of Nso.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group are endorsing Hon. Joseph Wirba as the leader of Southern Cameroons and call upon our striking lawyers and teachers including the Anglophone population to rally behind him.  The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government has been hesitant in implementing the demands tabled by Anglophone lawyers and teachers. The regime has blatantly refused to launch an investigation into the killings and rapes that were carried out by French speaking troops and police officers in Kumba, Kumbo, Buea and Bamenda amid pressure from the media, civil society groups and some international human rights organization.

Then out of the blues came what looked like a fight-back by what we called a “CPDM gang”: Philemon Yang and Paul Atanga Nji. Both had their versions of events justifying that there is no such thing as Anglophone Problem and each version had holes that ought to be seriously interrogated. What seemed fairly established is that money entered their hands and they forgot what we of British Southern Cameroons refer to as integrity.

Dorothy Njuema, Simon Achidi Achu, Chief V.E.Mukete and John Ebong Ngolle have been silent. However, Anglophone history teaches us that “once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time it’s enemy action.” They killed our children in Mamfe and Besongabang under the watchful eyes of the late Peter Agbor Tabi and Minister Mengot. They have killed several times in Kumbo, Wum, Bamenda and Ndop under the direct supervision of Simon Achidi Achu, Fon Angwafor of Mankon and the late Francis Nkwain. They have murdered consistently in Kumba, Muyuka, Limbe and Buea pretending to protect South West institutions and leaders such as Chief V.E.Mukete and the late Chief Endeley. The recent killings and rapes in Kumba, Buea,  Bamenda and Kumbo was an enemy action.

Biya and many Francophone political elites pretend to be deaf, dumb and blind at the revelations of the criminal wrong doings of the army and police forces against Southern Cameroonians. The reason is simple, the Francophone political elites are aware that the “filthy rich” Anglophones such as the Munas, the Halle Nicos, the Tabetandos and the Sama Francis are  the powerful and the well-connected in West Cameroon.  The Francophone pattern of a fight-back will always be to use the law enforcement agencies to utterly discredit and humiliate Anglophone leaders and by so doing raise questions about the integrity of the Anglophone crusade.

Hon. Joseph Wirba has unmasked the dark forces that are holding Anglophones hostage now is for the lawyers and teachers to join forces with him and neutralized this evil.  Nothing will ever come out of this new Anglophone nationalism if we continue to leave it as “lawyers and teachers.”  In fact the Francophone tactic is ensuring that lawyers are dealt with separately from the teachers since both groups do not have a centre command system. This policy is design to deceive the international community that Anglophones are simply asking for some slight structural adjustments in the day-to-day running of state affairs.

We are supporting Hon. Joseph Wirba to take command mindful of the fact that this is going to be a very long and difficult battle. Bribery allegations against prominent Anglophone leaders will come up – which will be admittedly serious. However, it will appear to be a mere subplot in a complex political story whose storyline will be unfolding for a long period of time. Having lawyers and teachers holding numerous rounds of talks with representatives of the Biya regime now is less urgent than getting a leader who will unmask and neutralize the dark forces against our Anglophone struggle. There is also a need to have a strong team comprising of lawyers, teachers and most important the Anglophone Diaspora to unearth the Francophone dynamics that often turn otherwise good and principled people into compromised individuals.

There are several instances in our daily life in which the crimes of an individual are tactically overlooked in order not to allow such to get in the way of accomplishing a higher objective. For example, this is not the time to focus on whether Hon. Joseph Wirba is SDF or CPDM. Also, despite being a huge disappointment to Anglophones, we still need the support of the older generation in this fight for a Southern Cameroons state.  But for now, we all have to rally behind Hon. Joseph Wirba who is presently our only eye so to say in this scheme of things.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai